B K H 



2W) 



B E R 



astringent, on which accounts they have been received into 

 the M>tttria Medtra of all countries. The most remarkable 

 gvnus is BKRBKKI*. 



[Berberta vulgirlj.] 



1. A Mpumlrd flower. 2. The calyl without the peuls. 3. A peulwitu 

 > fUrara in front of it. 4. A >t.imcn by it*elf. with the vulfci of iti author 

 rtflrxetl. 5. An ovary cut through, thowin^ tin: ]>osili<m of the ovuli'*. 6. A 

 riff <<! 7. A toction of the latter, ihon in; that the embryo llei iu albimifii. 

 8, Aft embryo wparated from the seed. 



BE'RBERIS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural 

 order Berberideee, among which it is immediately known 

 by its shrubby habit, berried fruit, and the presence of 

 glands upon its petals. It is also remarkable for the irrita- 

 bility of its stamens, which, when the filament is touched on 

 the inside with the point of a pin, or any other hard instru- 

 ment, bend forward towards the pistil, touch the stigma with 

 the anther, remain curved for a short time, and then par- 

 tially recover their erect position : this is best seen in warm, 

 dry weather. After heavy rain the phenomenon can scarcely 

 be observed, owing, in all probability, to the springs of the 

 filaments having been already set in motion by the clashing 

 of the rain upon them, or to the flowers having been forcibly 

 struck against each other. The cause of this curious action, 

 like all other vital phenomena, is unknown. It is ascribed 

 to what is called loml irritability, but this is not throwing 

 much light upon the subject. All that \ve certainly know 

 concerning it is this, that the irritability of the filament is 

 affected differently by different noxious substances. It has 

 been found by Messrs. Macaire and Marcet, that if you 

 poison a berberry with any corrosive agent, such as arsenic 

 or corrosive sublimate, the filaments become rigid and brittle, 

 and lose their irritability ; while, on the other hand, if the 

 poisoning be effected by any narcotic, such as Prussie acid, 

 opium, or belladonna, the irritability is destroyed by the 

 filaments becoming so relaxed and flaccid, that they can be 

 bent in any direction. It is difficult to draw from this 

 curious fact any other inference, llian that in plants as well 

 in animal* there is something analogous to a nervous 

 principle, which U more highly developed in some plants, or 



ne organs, than in others. 



The- gpeciet of which thi* genus consists are interesting 



olh for their utility and their beauty, on which account we 



shall describe the more remarkable kinds in some detail, 



especially as we find much to add and to correct in all the 



luminaries of the genus that have yet been published. The 



.c bark and root of the common barberry for dyeing 



r and linen of a yellow colour, is well known. Mr. 



has shown that this property i* extended to the spe- 



l>ecially to hit Brrberii (iriitntn ; and it ha* 



ascertained by Vauquclin. that a plant found on the Nil 



gherrie* (the B.lmctoria) is inferior to few woods for dyeing 



yellow. The acid quality of the fruit has rendered all {lio 

 species more or less esteemed : that of H. aristata and H. 

 Srjxilensit is dried by the mountaineers of India as raisins, 

 ana sent to the plains for sale. The bitterness and ustrin- 

 l>cncy of the bark has caused them to be rett-ived into the. 

 useful medicinal plants; and it will be interesting to 

 our classical readers to know that it has lately lieen ascer- 

 tained by Mr. Royle, that the \vnov 'Iviaov (I.yciuni In- 

 dicum) of Diosoofides, concerning which so much doubt 

 has always existed, was an Indian species of barberry, now 

 called Berberis Lycium. (For the conclnsi\c evidence upon 

 which this rests, see KoUr's Illustration! nf the Botany <>/ 

 the Himalayan Mountains, &c. p. C3.) The supposed in- 

 jurious effects of the barberry upon corn have already been 

 shown to be a popular error, under the article .-KciDlUM. 



To persons having gardens this genus has particular 

 attraction on account of the great beauty of many of the spo- 

 cies, which arc, however, but ill understood, even by bota- 

 KI-IS themselves. We venture to offer the following an a 

 correct account of those which are cultivated. They 

 obviously divided into two great groups, of which the first 

 has undivided leaves, like the common barberry : and the 

 others are pinnated, after the manner of the leaf of nn ash- 

 tree. Botanists call these Mahonias. Ash-barberry may 

 be taken as their English designation. 



} 1. Leaves simple. THUK BARBKRRIKS. 

 * Leaves thin, deciduous; Jlotrers solitary. 



1. Herberts Sibirica (Siberian barberry). leaves obo- 

 vatc, obtuse, deeply and irregularly toothed : tlower- 

 tary, shorter than the leaves; spines deep! v divided into 

 from three to seven shinin-r partitions. A small shrub found 

 on exposed rocks on the hills and lower mountains of Altaic 

 Siberia, whore it is very common. It is to be pnx-ured in 

 the choicer collections of this country, to which it was ori- 

 ginally introduced by Pallas, who has figured it in his Flnm 

 Russica, tab. 67. The berries are, according to Pallas, obo- 

 vale, and of a red colour. This does not thrive in England, 

 but is always a scrubby bush of inelegant appearance. 



* * Leaves thin, mostly deciduous ; Jlvtcers in racemes. 



2. Berberts Cretica (Candian barberry). Spines in three 

 or more divisions : leaves small, obovate, acute, nearly free 

 from toothings : flowers in very short, compact racemes. 

 Not uncommon on the mountains of Candia and (. 

 whence it has been brought to our gardens. It is a dwarf, 

 scrubby hush, looking like a starved specimen of the com- 

 mon barberry. Its berries are said to be black, ovate, two- 

 seeded, and austere rather than acid. 



3. Berberis vulgaris (the common barberry). Spines in 

 three deep divisions ; leaves obovate, with fine spiny tooth- 

 ings; flowers in drooping racemes, which are longer than 

 the leaves. This common species appears to inhabit equally 

 the north of Europe, Asia, and America in woods nnd 

 thickets, especially in limestone countries. De Candolle 

 remarks that it extends in Europe from Cundia to Christi- 

 ania, ami that while in northern latitudes it is a valley plant, 

 it becomes in the south exclusively a mountaineer, climbing 

 so high on Mount .Ktna as to be the most alpine of the 

 shrubs of the sterile belt of that mountain at the height of 

 7500 feet. Like all such plants, it has in the course of 

 formed numerous varieties: these are, however, chiefly con- 

 fined to the fruit, there being a great similarity in the fbliago 

 of all except one. Those known in the pardens are the fol- 

 lowing : 1. The cnminiin red-fruited: 2. The stoneless, 

 which differs from the first in nothing except the want of 

 seeds: :t. The trhite, or yellow fruited ; 4. The violet, 

 fnir/i/i; or black fruited; and, 5. The street -fruited. The 

 latter, although called sweet, is scarcely less acid than the 

 common barberry, with which its fruit agrees in colour : but 

 its leaves are a much brighter green, and shinin<r instead of 

 dull: it is found wild in Austria. Besides these there is j a 

 the catalogues a Canadian barberry, which appears to b 

 nothing mure than a common barlx-rry brought from North 

 America: and Herbert's Daurica and Altuiru, neither of 

 which merit to be distinguished from B. rulfarit. 



Thi- species is usually a bush from four to six feet hi<;l> ; 

 but in Italy it becomes as Inr^e as a plum tree, livins a 

 couple of centuries or more. The wood is hard, but brittle, 

 and is chielly employed by the dyers for staining yellow. 

 Tin- acid qualities of this fruit render it unfit to eat raw, but 

 it makes one of the most delicious of preserves. 



J. Herberts Canadentis (Canadian barberry). Spines di- 



